In The Human Potential for Peace: An Anthropological Challenge to Assumptions about War and Violence, renowned anthropologist Douglas P. Fry shows how anthropology--with its expansive time frame and comparative orientation--can provide unique insights into the nature of war and the potential for peace. Challenging the traditional view that humans are by nature primarily violent and warlike, Professor Fry argues that along with the capacity for aggression humans also possess a strong ability to prevent, limit, and resolve conflicts without violence. Raising philosophy of science issues, the author shows that cultural beliefs asserting the inevitability of violence and war can bias our interpretations, affect our views of ourselves, and may even blind us to the possibility of achieving security without war. Fry draws on data from cultural anthropology, archaeology, and sociology as well as from behavioral ecology and evolutionary biology to construct a biosocial argument that challenges a host of commonly held assumptions. The Human Potential for Peace includes ethnographic examples from around the globe, findings from Fry's research among the Zapotec of Mexico, and results of cross-cultural studies on warfare. In showing that conflict resolution exists across cultures and by documenting the existence of numerous peaceful societies, it demonstrates that dealing with conflict without violence is not merely a utopian dream. The book also explores several highly publicized and interesting controversies, including Freeman's critique of Margaret Mead's writings on Samoan warfare; Napoleon Chagnon's claims about the Yanomamo; and ongoing evolutionary debates about whether "hunter-gatherers" are peaceful or warlike. The Human Potential for Peace is ideal for undergraduate courses in political and legal anthropology, the anthropology of peace and conflict, peace studies, political sociology, and the sociology of war and violence. Written in an informal style with numerous entertaining examples, the book is also readily accessible to general readers.

Foreword by Robert A. Hinde Preface 1. Questioning the War Assumption A Preview of Coming Attractions 2. The Peace System of the Upper Xingu A Peace System Social Organization 3. Taken for Granted: The Human Potential for Peace Avoidance Toleration Negotiation Settlement Cultural Beliefs and Aggression Prevention Points to Highlight 4. Making the Invisible Visible: Belief Systems in San Andres and La Paz So Near and Yet So Far Different Learning Environments Multicausality and Multidimensionality Some Broader Implications 5. The Cross-Cultural Peacefulness-Aggressiveness Continuum A Peacefulness-Aggressiveness Continuum Growing Interest in Peaceful Societies Peaceful Societies: Not Such a Rare Breed After All 6. Peace Stories The Semai of Malaysia Ifaluk of Micronesia Norwegians: A Nation at Peace Returning to Hidden Assumptions 7. A Hobbesian Belief System? On the Supposed Naturalness of War Warfare and Feuding from a Cross-Cultural Perspective Nonwarring Cultures 8. Social Organization Matters! Types of Social Organization The Link betwen Warfare and Social Organization Social Organization and Seeking Justice Implications 9. Paradise Denied: A Bizarre Case of Skullduggery The Unmaking of the Myth-Weaver 10. Re-Creating the Past in Our Own Image Assumptions Come Tumbling Down The Earliest Evidence of War 11. Cultural Projections 12. Aboriginal Australia: A Continent of Unwarlike Hunter-Gatherers The Paucity of Warfare Conflict Management Summing Up 13. War-Laden Scenarios of the Past: Uncovering a Heap of Faulty Assumptions Making the Implicit Explicit The Patrilineal-Patrilocal Assumption The Assumption of the Tight-Knit, Bounded Group The Assumption of Pervasively Hostile Interband Relations 14. More Faulty Assumptions The Assumption of Warring over Scarce Resources The Assumption of Warring over Land The Assumption of Warring over Women The Assumption of Leadership Summing Up 15. Much Ado about the Yanomamo The Famous Yanomamo Unokais Broader Issues Methodological and Analytical Issues: Questioning the "Obvious" The Heart of the Matter Why So Much Ado? 16. Windows to the Past: Conflict Management Case Studies Siriono Montagnais-Naskapi Paliyan Netsilik Inuit Ju/'hoansi Lessons from the Case Studies 17. Untangling War from Interpersonal Aggression Natural Selection Natural Environments and the EEA Concept "Flexible" Adapatations, Sexual Selection, and Sex Differences in Aggression The Costs and Benefits of Aggression to Individual Fitness Inclusive Fitness 18. An Alternative Evolutionary Perspective: The Nomadic Forager Model Human Hawks, Doves, and Retaliators Costs and Benefits of Aggression Restraint Inclusive Fitness Assessing the Overall Patterns and Recurring Themes Warring as an Adaption? The Twin Problems of Confusing Function with Effect and Aggression with Warfare Conclusions 19. Weighing the Evidence 20. Enhancing Peace A Macroscopic Perspective: The Human Capacity to Move beyond War Specific Insights for Keeping the Peace Conclusions Appendix: Organizations to Contact Notes References Index

Douglas P. FryDocent and Professor of Anthropology, Abo Akademi University; Adjunct Research Scientist, Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology, University of Arizona

"The Human Potential for Peace is a real achievement, the first systematic book of its kind, and a welcome part of the anthropological literature. I especially liked the sweep of the book, which broadly covers both the history of aggression as well as the ethnographic record, moving forward to contemporary society and applied implications."--Thomas A. Gregor, Professor of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University |k No